Chase Purdy and the No. 4 Bama Buggies team head to World Wide Technology Raceway (WWTR) for Saturday’s 200-mile race. Despite being only 11 races into the 2023 season, Purdy enters Saturday’s race having already produced a career-high five top-10 finishes. With five races remaining in the regular season, he sits 13th in the driver point standings, 36 points below the cutoff line for being one of the 10 drivers to make the Truck Series playoffs. He will be looking to cut into that deficit this weekend at WWTR, a track where he has finished inside the top 10 in both of his starts there. The 23-year-old driver finished sixth in the 2021 event at the 1.25-mile track and 10th in last year’s race.
Saturday’s race will be the second race of the 2023 Triple Truck Challenge in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. For the races at Charlotte, World Wide Technology Raceway and Nashville Superspeedway only points earning drivers in the Truck Series are eligible to participate in those events, with each race having extra money on the line. If a driver wins one of the three races they will earn a $50,000 bonus and if they win two of the three races, they will earn a $150,000. If Charlotte winner Ben Rhodes can go on to win all three races, he will earn a $500,000 bonus. In its four year history, no driver has won all three races. Purdy finished 16th in last week’s race at Charlotte.
Purdy will be trying to etch his mark in the KBM historical archives Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway as he looks to collect the organization’s 100th NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory. KBM-owner driver Kyle Busch collected KBM’s record-extending 99th-career victory with his dominant victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway earlier this year leaving his organization one win shy of the century mark. Overall, 18 different drivers have won at least one race behind the wheel of a KBM truck, led by Busch’s 47. Four drivers rank second on the list with seven victories: William Byron, Christopher Bell, Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek. Three of KBM’s wins have come at WWTR. Corey Heim won last year, while Bell was victorious in 2016 and Bubba Wallace brought home the trophy in 2014.
The Mississippi native is in his third full-time season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and first with KBM. He enters Saturday’s race having totaled one top-five, 10 top-10 finishes, and 20 laps led across his 63 career Truck Series starts. Purdy finished 16th in the Truck Series final standings in 2022 after competing in 22 of the 23 events. He posted two top-10 finishes and nine laps led, with a season-best finish of seventh coming at Talladega Superspeedway in October.
Jimmy Villeneuve is atop the pit box for Purdy and the No. 4 Chevrolet team this season. Prior to being promoted to crew chief for the 2023 season, Villeneuve had served as a Truck Chief at KBM since the 2017 season and in that role was a part of 18 wins, a driver’s championship with Christopher Bell in 2017 and the 2019 owner’s championship with the No. 51 team. Prior to joining KBM the New Hampshire native served as a truck chief at Athenian Motorsports in 2015 when the team won with John Wes Townley at Las Vegas. He was promoted to crew chief five races into the 2016 season. Villeneuve has guided one Truck Series start at Gateway, a 23rd-place finish with John Wes Townley in 2016.
Bama Buggies, your one-stop shop for all the biggest names in powersports and utility vehicles, will be the primary sponsor on Purdy’s No. 4 Chevrolet Saturday and for the majority of the events on the 2023 schedule. They are Central Alabama’s powersports experts, serving as an authorized dealer of Polaris, Slingshot, and Seadoo.
Chase Purdy, Driver Q&A:
Do you enjoy racing at World Wide Technology Raceway?
“Gateway is a track that I’ve had success at and run well at, so I’m excited to go back there. I don’t know what it is about that track — I just really like the feel of it and how you have to race it from a driver’s standpoint. It’s a really neat race track with having two different corners and both ends of the race track being completely opposite. I like to think Turns 1 and 2 race like a short track and we are shifting down there, then Turns 3 and 4 race like a traditional mile race track, like a Loudon. Aero is really important and makes it hard to pass. You need to qualify well and do everything you can to keep your track position. I’m excited to go there in a KBM truck and see what we can do.”
Is it important to end this five-week stretch of races with a strong run headed into two weeks off?
“We are coming to the end of a five-week stretch where there have been some bumps in the road, but it is crucial to end on a high note. You want to have some momentum going into a couple weeks off and then be ready to make a push to get into the playoffs in the final four weeks of the regular season. We just need to execute and have a good day on Saturday.”
How do you prepare for the heat that you’ll experience this weekend?
“It’s going to be 95 degrees and hot on Saturday. This place is notorious for that, during the summer it feels like it’s one of the hottest places on Earth. You need to hydrate during the week, work out and eat healthy. We do a lot of cardio and some heat training as well. Nothing that we are not used to, but it’s definitely going to be more demanding from a physical standpoint inside the truck.”
Chase Purdy Career Highlights:
Across 63 career Truck Series starts, has produced 20 laps led, one top-five and 10 top-10 finishes. Posted a career-best runner-up finish at Texas Motor Speedway in April of 2023.
Finished 16th in Truck Series championship standings in 2022.
Finished fourth in the 2018 ARCA Menard’s Series championship standings after recording 84 laps led, 10 top-five and 14 top-10 finishes.
Earned the 2017 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East rookie of the year honors and finished fourth in the championship standings after posting four poles, 200 laps led, five top-five and eight top-10 finishes across 14 starts.
Won the prestigious Snowflake 100 Pro Late Model race at 5 Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Fla., in Dec. of 2018.
Chase Purdy’s No. 4 Chevrolet Silverado RST:
KBM-60:The No. 4 Bama Buggies team will unload KBM-60 for Saturday’s race at World Wide Technology Raceway.KBM-60 will be making its first start in 2023. It was last driven by John Hunter Nemechek to a 10th-place finish at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park last July. This chassis has recorded two career wins. Kyle Busch won with KBM-60 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2020 and Brandon Jones won with it at Pocono Raceway in 2020.
KBM holds the Craftsman Truck Series records for most career wins (99) and most wins in a single season (14 in 2014). With his victory at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway last year, Corey Heim became the 18th different driver to win a Truck Series event for KBM. In addition to collecting a series-record seven Owner’s Championships, the organization has produced two championship-winning drivers: Erik Jones (2015) and Christopher Bell (2017).
The No. 4 has 18 career victories at KBM and was the number for both of the organization’s driver championships.
